There were three sharp knocks
on the wood plank at the front of the wagon.
“Oh! That’s the signal, children,” said Harriet. She sprang
up and gave three knocks back on the plank.
“What signal?” asked Kyla.
“Someone’s comin’,” said Harriet. “We need to hide
ourselves in case it’s a slave-catcher.”
Harriet pulled at one of the planks that made up the floor
of the wagon bed and it lifted up. She slid the false floor plank to the side
revealing a small compartment below.
“Quick, hide in here! Lay down flat!”
The two cousins dropped down into the tight compartment and
Harriet laid down beside them before pulling the plank back over for cover.
Zammie couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but he could hear more horses
galloping towards them. Daniel slowed the wagon down. The sounds of additional
horses could be heard stepping and neighing around the wagon. The light of
lanterns filtered through the cracks in the wood.
“Awful late to be travelling alone, ain’t it?” said one of
the horsemen.
“Agreed,” said Daniel. “Tryin’ to get home before the
missus gets angry.”
Kyla felt like she was in a coffin. She was crammed tightly
between Harriet and Zammie and the thin dust from the wood of the wagon was
tickling her nose.
“You haven’t seen any runaways on your journey, have ya?”
asked one of the horsemen.
“Not tonight,” answered Daniel. “You missin’ slaves?”
“Not us, but a couple of the local farmers are.”
“Ah, bounty hunters,” said Daniel.
Zammie could hear one of the horses trotting around the
wagon to the rear.
“Mind if we check the contents of your wagon, sir?” asked
the rider of the horse.
“You won’t find a thing back there,” said Daniel.
“We’ll check anyway if ya don’t mind,” said the first
rider.
Zammie heard the wagon gate open. Then he heard boot steps
clunking on the plank just inches above his head.
“Anything?” asked the first rider from the road.
Zammie held his breath to keep from making any noise at
all.
Then
it happened…
“Ha-choo!”
Zammie’s eyes went big. Kyla had sneezed.
“What was that?” asked the first rider.
“What have we here?” said the rider in the wagon.
Kyla felt the blood drain out of her face when she heard
the man grasping for the niche in the false floor plank above them. A second
later the plank was lifted and tossed away. The light of the lantern filled the
thin compartment in which the three of them were hiding.
“We got stowaways!” said the man.
In that instant Harriet sent a kick with all of her might
straight into the midsection of the slave-catcher leaning over them. The power
of the kick sent the man sprawling backwards where he fell off the edge of the
wagon landing flat on his back on the hard, cold road.
“Come on, children!” said Harriet. “Let’s move!”
Harriet grabbed Kyla by the wrist and Kyla grabbed Zammie
by the wrist and the three of them bolted out of the wagon onto the road and
disappeared into the dark woods.
-- "We Got Stowaways!"
from Time Trip #2: A Ride On the Underground Railroad
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 4
KILLING FOR COUNTRY
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 2
A RIDE ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 3
WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
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